Međugorje
– 165,
August 26
2001
"Dear
children! Today I call all of you
to decide for holiness. May for you, little children, always in your thoughts
and in each situation holiness be in the first place, in work and in speech.
In this way, you will also put it into practice; little by little, step by
step, prayer and a decision for holiness will enter into your family. Be real
with yourselves and do not bind yourselves to material things but to God. And
do not forget, little chlidren, that your life is as passing as a flower. Thank
you for having responded to my call."
Loneliness
in faith
In 1950, Romano Guardini prophetically
announced that believers would be lonely. He wrote: “The loneliness of
believers will be frightening.” Guardini, speaking about loneliness of the
believers, did not consider it as negative, but as condition for a mature
Christian life and for community, which is conditio sine qua non of the existence of the Church and of being
Church.
The second half of the 20th
century confirmed Guardini’s announcement: loneliness became more and more
obvious, and community, to which loneliness should conduct, was more and more
absent. The dominant image of the Church of our times became the image of
loneliness. Small groups speak about Christianity, people pray in small
assemblies, and Christians become an almost invisible minority in the society.
There are less and less occasions to transform the positive loneliness in faith
into community and fraternity. This is why they seek with so much yearning
gatherings and occasions to manifest their loneliness amidst a multitude that
makes the same experience.
Medjugorje is becoming more and more a
meeting-place of those who are lonely in their faith. In the spirituality of
Medjugorje, they find the possibility to express publicly their experience of
loneliness and to be nourished by community, without which their situation as
faithful seems to be really frightening.
Fra
Ivan Landeka
NUMBER OF
COMMUNIONS AND NUMBER OF CONCELEBRANTS
During the month of July, 120.000 communions were distributed and 3774 priests
from the country and from abroad concelebrated Holy Mass in Medjugorje.
Pilgrims were here from
Germany, Austria, Poland, Romania, France, India, United Arabic Emirates,
Indonesia, Spain, USA, Honduras, Ireland, Canada, Slovakia, The Czech Republic,
Switzerland, Lebanon, Slovenia, England, Italy, Porto Rico, Mexico, Argentina,
Philippines, Leetonia, South Africa, Holland, Lithuania, Russia, Belgium,
Hungary, Korea, Portugal, Caribbean, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The prayer group was founded by Nedjeljko
Brecic, an original member of Ivan's prayer group in Medugorje, who officially
named the prayer group on June 4, 1999, on the day he died. After he passed away,
Ana Shawl, a Croatian who lives in the United States, has been carrying on in
leading the prayer group along with the help of others.
Now,
the prayer group has over 860 members from all over the world. The mission of
the prayer group is to live and spread the messages of Medjugorje. Members help
each other in different ways, they pray together and encourage each other in
daily living of Our Lady’s messages.
Once
a year, the prayer group members take their annual pilgrimage to Medjugorje. The
website address for the prayer group is: http://www.iipg-queenofpeace.org
MGR LEONARD HSU,
OFM, RETIRED ARCHBISHOP OF TAIPEI (TAIWAN) IN MEDJUGORJE
End
of July 2001, Mgr Leonard Hsu, Franciscan, retired archbishop of Taipei (Taiwan),
came for a private visit to Medjugorje. He arrived with the first group of
Taiwanese pilgrims.
He said about his
impressions in Medjugorje:
“People
here are very kind, everybody greets us, this is a sign of being Catholic. We
see people coming from everywhere. They are sincere and friendly. The piety is
impressing: everywhere people pray the rosary, meditate, kneel and pray… The
prayers after the evening Mass are long, people pray… Pilgrims from my group
say: we have to do something to make Medjugorje known in Taiwan. I wonder how we
could organise pilgrimages from Taiwan to Medjugorje, how to bring young people…
Personally,
I would like to stay longer, to know Medjugorje better.”
SEMINAR FOR INNER
HEALING
July 19 to 23, 2001, Father James Manjackal,
a catholic priest and a missionary of St. Francis de Sales from India, held his
third seminar for inner healing in Medjugorje. Because of the great interest,
the seminar took place in the Sport Hall in Ljubuški, and there were about 5000
participants from Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina. The evening prayer programme
was held in Medjugorje, and there were more than 20.000 faithful.
In Medjugorje, the Feast of St. James the apostle, patron of the parish of Medjugorje, is always celebrated by a procession with the statue of St. James,
followed by Holy Mass in the open air. It is principally attended by the
parishioners, however the foreign pilgrims also regularly come to this special
Mass. This year, the Holy Mass was presided by Fr. Miro Šego, ofm, native from
Medjugorje.
The
parish of Medjugorje was founded in 1892 and placed under the protection of St.
James the apostle.
On Thursday, August 9th, 2001, a
Buddhist, Venerable
Dharma Master Hsin Tao Shih, founder of the Museum of World Religions
to be opened in autumn in Taipei, Taiwan, came to visit Medjugorje. He was
accompanied by Bawa Jain, Jainist, Secretary General of The Millennium World
Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, to be held in New York,
under the high patronage of the United Nations. With them came a group of
Buddhist nuns. Their visit to Medjugorje is one of the stations on their inter-religious
pilgrimage, where they seek to know sacred places of different religions and
receive blessings.
Fr.
Svetozar Kraljević received them in the Parish Office, and spoke to them about
the apparitions of Our Lady – the Queen of Peace in Medjugorje. They shared
about prayer, about peace and their search of truth, which brings together and
unites all the believers of the world.
Climbing
the Apparition Hill, where they spent a few minutes in silent prayer, concluded
their visit to Medjugorje.
This
year’s Youth Festival gathered around the altar more than 10000 young people
from all continents and more than 300 priests. Simultaneous translation was
organized for 15 languages, but there were 22 languages present.
Lecturers
and witnesses called the young people to grow with Mary in wisdom and love, in
order to become the light of the world and the salt of the earth, according to
the call of our Holy Father.
Next summer, many young people will gather around the Holy Father in Toronto. Many will not be able to undertake such a long journey. We invite all the young people to come next year, and to join all those for whom it will remain an unforgettable experience.